Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 861 To establish an interagency One Health Program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 18, 2021 Ms. SMITH (for herself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. GRASSLEY, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To establish an interagency One Health Program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing Emergency 4 Preparedness Through One Health Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The term ‘‘One Health’’ reflects the inter- 8 connectedness of human health, animal health, and 9 the environment. As technology and population 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 861 IS growth facilitates increased interaction of human 1 settlements with wildlife habitats and as inter- 2 national travel and trade increases, the interface be- 3 tween these elements will also continue to rise. 4 (2) When zoonotic diseases spill over to hu- 5 mans, there are often enormous health and economic 6 costs. The World Bank estimates that, between 1997 7 and 2009, the global costs from six zoonotic out- 8 breaks exceeded $80,000,000,000 and the Centers 9 for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 10 there are annually 2,500,000,000 cases of zoonotic 11 infections globally, resulting in 2,700,000 deaths. 12 (3) There are also immense effects on the agri- 13 culture sector. In 2014 and 2015, a high pathogenic 14 avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the United 15 States led to the cull of nearly 50,000,000 birds, 16 and imposed up to approximately $3,300,000,000 in 17 losses for poultry and egg farmers, animal feed pro- 18 ducers, baked good production, and other related in- 19 dustries. 20 (4) Public health preparedness depends on agri- 21 culture in a variety of ways. For example, a wide 22 range of vaccines, including those for influenza, yel- 23 low fever, rabies, and measles-mumps-rubella 24 (MMR), are primarily cultivated in poultry eggs. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 861 IS Egg shortages resulting from zoonotic disease out- 1 breaks could impose serious risks to vaccine manu- 2 facturing efforts. 3 (5) It is estimated that approximately 80 per- 4 cent of potential pathogens likely to be used in bio- 5 terrorism or biowarfare are common zoonotic patho- 6 gens. 7 (6) While existing Federal Government initia- 8 tives related to One Health span multiple agencies, 9 including the Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 10 vention One Health office and the Department of 11 Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection 12 Services’ One Health Coordination Center, addi- 13 tional interagency coordination is necessary to help 14 better prevent, prepare for, and respond to zoonotic 15 disease outbreaks. 16 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY ONE HEALTH PROGRAM. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior, the 18 Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Sec- 19 retary of Agriculture (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec- 20 retaries’’), in coordination with the United States Agency 21 for International Development, the Environmental Protec- 22 tion Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the 23 Department of Defense, the Department of Commerce, 24 and other departments and agencies as appropriate, shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 861 IS develop, publish, and submit to Congress a national One 1 Health Framework (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘frame- 2 work’’) for coordinated Federal Activities under the One 3 Health Program. 4 (b) NATIONAL ONE HEALTH FRAMEWORK.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, 7 in cooperation with the United States Agency for 8 International Development, the Environmental Pro- 9 tection Agency, the Department of Homeland Secu- 10 rity, the Department of Defense, the Department of 11 Commerce, and other departments and agencies as 12 appropriate, shall develop, publish, and submit to 13 Congress a One Health Framework (referred to in 14 this section as the ‘‘framework’’) for coordinated 15 Federal activities under the One Health Program. 16 (2) CONTENTS OF FRAMEWORK.—The frame- 17 work described in paragraph (1) shall describe exist- 18 ing efforts and contain recommendations for build- 19 ing upon and complementing the activities of the 20 Department of the Interior, the Centers for Disease 21 Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Admin- 22 istration, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for 23 Preparedness and Response, the Department of Ag- 24 riculture, the United States Agency for International 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 861 IS Development, the Environmental Protection Agency, 1 the National Institutes of Health, the Department of 2 Homeland Security, and other departments and 3 agencies, as appropriate, and shall— 4 (A) assess, identify, and describe, as ap- 5 propriate, existing activities of Federal agencies 6 and departments under the One Health Pro- 7 gram and consider whether all relevant agencies 8 are adequately represented; 9 (B) for the 10-year period beginning in the 10 year the framework is submitted, establish spe- 11 cific Federal goals and priorities that most ef- 12 fectively advance— 13 (i) scientific understanding of the con- 14 nections between human, animal, and envi- 15 ronmental health; 16 (ii) coordination and collaboration be- 17 tween agencies involved in the framework 18 including sharing data and information, 19 engaging in joint fieldwork, and engaging 20 in joint laboratory studies related to One 21 Health; 22 (iii) identification of priority zoonotic 23 diseases and priority areas of study; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 861 IS (iv) surveillance of priority zoonotic 1 diseases and their transmission between 2 animals and humans; 3 (v) prevention of priority zoonotic dis- 4 eases and their transmission between ani- 5 mals and humans; 6 (vi) protocol development to improve 7 joint outbreak response to and recovery 8 from zoonotic disease outbreaks in animals 9 and humans; and 10 (vii) workforce development to prevent 11 and respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks 12 in animals and humans; 13 (C) describe specific activities required to 14 achieve the goals and priorities described in 15 subparagraph (B), and propose a timeline for 16 achieving these goals; 17 (D) identify and expand partnerships, as 18 appropriate, among Federal agencies, States, 19 Indian tribes, academic institutions, nongovern- 20 mental organizations, and private entities in 21 order to develop new approaches for reducing 22 hazards to human and animal health and to 23 strengthen understanding of the value of an in- 24 tegrated approach under the One Health Pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 861 IS gram to addressing public health threats in a 1 manner that prevents duplication; 2 (E) identify best practices related to State 3 and local-level research coordination, field ac- 4 tivities, and disease outbreak preparedness, re- 5 sponse, and recovery related to One Health; and 6 (F) provide recommendations to Congress 7 regarding additional action or legislation that 8 may be required to assist in establishing the 9 One Health Program. 10 (3) ADDENDUM.—Not later than 3 years after 11 the creation of the framework, the Secretaries, in co- 12 ordination with the agencies described in paragraph 13 (1), shall submit to Congress an addendum to the 14 framework that describes the progress made in ad- 15 vancing the activities described in the framework. 16 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 17 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 18 such sums as may be necessary. 19 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 20 Not later than 2 years after the date of the submis- 21 sion of the addendum under section 3(b)(3), the Comp- 22 troller General of the United States shall submit to Con- 23 gress a report that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 861 IS (1) details existing collaborative efforts between 1 the Department of the Interior, the Centers for Dis- 2 ease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug 3 Administration, the Department of Agriculture, the 4 United States Agency for International Develop- 5 ment, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Na- 6 tional Institutes of Health, the Department of 7 Homeland Security, and other departments and 8 agencies to prevent and respond to zoonotic disease 9 outbreaks in animals and humans; and 10 (2) contains an evaluation of the framework 11 and the specific activities requested to achieve the 12 framework. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:24 Apr 14, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S861.IS S861 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS